Water reform legislation considered significant

By By Trista Talton Breakingnews@StarNewsOnline.com

Published: Sunday, May 25, 2014 at 02:51 PM.

Legislation authorizing 34 U.S. water projects, including a multimillion-dollar storm damage reduction project for North Topsail Beach and Surf City, is “significant” even though it doesn’t provide money for them, local leaders say.

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act, a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. House earlier this week, is a major step in the federal government acknowledging that small beach towns need financial assistance to fund costly shoreline projects, officials say. The bill is awaiting Senate approval.

“The word ‘authorization’ is welcome news for us in the town because it’s a clear recognition that coastal towns need assistance to protect the coast,” North Topsail Beach Town Manager Stuart Turille said. “It’s the concept that the federal government understands now that a dollar spent up front has more benefit than a dollar spent afterwards in, say, an event such as Superstorm Sandy or Hurricane Katrina. Without authorization we would have no chance of any funding.”

The amount of federal funding that may be allocated to North Topsail Beach and Surf City’s estimated $138.5-million joint coastal storm damage reduction project remains unclear.

Funding for each project will require separate bills.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Surf City Town Manager Larry Bergman said. “If you go back many years you have these different milestones that you’re trying to achieve, and this is really a big one. The funding part is the next phase. It comes down to getting a priority spot with the Corps of Engineers. This is a great step, and I think it’s really kind of a testament to how both towns and elected officials have been pushing it all along.”

The towns initiated the proposed project in 2002 after Congress authorized a feasibility study of the Topsail Island shoreline following Hurricane Fran in 1996 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Those hurricanes caused extensive damage to the island.

Legislation authorizing 34 U.S. water projects, including a multimillion-dollar storm damage reduction project for North Topsail Beach and Surf City, is “significant” even though it doesn’t provide money for them, local leaders say.

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act, a bipartisan bill passed by the U.S. House earlier this week, is a major step in the federal government acknowledging that small beach towns need financial assistance to fund costly shoreline projects, officials say. The bill is awaiting Senate approval.

“The word ‘authorization’ is welcome news for us in the town because it’s a clear recognition that coastal towns need assistance to protect the coast,” North Topsail Beach Town Manager Stuart Turille said. “It’s the concept that the federal government understands now that a dollar spent up front has more benefit than a dollar spent afterwards in, say, an event such as Superstorm Sandy or Hurricane Katrina. Without authorization we would have no chance of any funding.”

The amount of federal funding that may be allocated to North Topsail Beach and Surf City’s estimated $138.5-million joint coastal storm damage reduction project remains unclear.

Funding for each project will require separate bills.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Surf City Town Manager Larry Bergman said. “If you go back many years you have these different milestones that you’re trying to achieve, and this is really a big one. The funding part is the next phase. It comes down to getting a priority spot with the Corps of Engineers. This is a great step, and I think it’s really kind of a testament to how both towns and elected officials have been pushing it all along.”

The towns initiated the proposed project in 2002 after Congress authorized a feasibility study of the Topsail Island shoreline following Hurricane Fran in 1996 and Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Those hurricanes caused extensive damage to the island.

A 2010 Corps of Engineers study showed an annual erosion rate of 2 to 3 feet along portions of a nearly 10-mile stretch of shoreline between the south end of North Topsail Beach into Surf City. The study concluded that storm damage can be reduced in this area.

The proposed project covers a 9.9-mile section of beach, a little more than half of which is in Surf City, that would require more than 11 million cubic yards of sand, the creation a 15-foot dune 25 feet wide and a 7-foot berm 50 feet wide. The beach would be nourished every six years.

As federal funding for beach projects has withered, towns have been forced to pick up more of the costs, prompting towns to ask for matching funds from the state as well as county governments.

North Topsail Beach and Surf City will have to contribute local funds to the project if it does receive federal money.

“Certainly there will some form of match from the town,” Turille said. “I’ve heard various percentages, but the cost has never landed across my desk. I can tell you the town’s contribution will be in the millions.”

The initial cost of the project to Surf City is an estimated $15.9 million, according to a funding plan presented to that town last year. That projection includes a nearly $15 million state match.

As they wait for the next step in the process, North Topsail Beach will begin the fifth and final phase of its ongoing shoreline protection project this fall. That project involves nourishing the beach with more than 500,000 cubic yards of sand along a more than 20,000-foot section of shoreline.